11 Fun Facts About The Stanley Cup

Unless you missed the excitement of the game last night, fireworks, street celebrations or even the water cooler talk this morning, you know the Blackhawks brought the Stanley Cup home last night. It’s an exciting week in Chicago as locals track down the Blackhawks to get a glimpse of the Stanley Cup and prepare for the parade on Friday. In all the excitement, we decided to bring you some fun facts about the Cup, so you can be share the knowledge this week and throughout the summer. Check it out below. Congrats to the Chicago Blackhawks!!

1. The Stanley Cup was created by Sir Frederick Arthur Stanley, Lord Stanley of Preston and originally presented to “the championship hockey club of the Dominion of Canada,” in 1892.

2. The first team ever awarded the Stanley Cup was the Montreal Amateur Athletic Association in 1893. Since 1926, it’s only been awarded to the National Hockey League.

3. The Stanley Cup is the oldest trophy competed for by professional athletes in North America. It’s also the only trophy in major sports that is not reproduced each year.

4. The winning team holds the trophy for one year and each person is given 24 hours with the Cup, a tradition formalized in 1995.

5. There are 2,267  names engraved on the Cup. When the bottom band becomes full, the oldest bad is removed and preserved in the Hockey Hall of fame and the blank band is added to the bottom.

6. To get their name engraved, a player must have played at least 41 games for the championship team during the regular season or played in at least one game of the Stanley Cup Finals. They have the ability to petition the league to include other team members, which is the case for the Chicago Blackhawks.

7. The first team to engrave its names inside the bowl was the 1906-07 Montreal Wanderers. The 1914-15 Vancouver Millionaires also engraved nine names inside the bowl.

8. The current Stanley Cup is made of silver and nickel alloy and is 35.24 inches tall and weighs 34.5 pounds.

9. There are technically three versions of the Stanley Cup:

• The original 1892 bowl – retired in 1962 and displayed in the bank vault at the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, Ontario
• The 1963 authenticated “Presentation Cup” – this is the current Cup and is identified by the symbol of the Hockey Hall of Fame on the bottom of its base
• The 1993 “Replica Cup” – created to be used as a stand-in at the Hockey Hall of Fame whenever the Presentation Cup is not available.

10. Traditionally, players won’t touch the Stanley Cup until they win it. A tradition began in 1950 when Ted Lindsay, captain of the Detroit Red Wings hoisted it above his head and skated around the rink.

11. The Cup is assigned two trustees that have absolute power over all matters regarding the Stanley Cup. The trustees include former NHL Executive Vice President Brian O’Neill and Ian “Scotty” Morrison, longtime NHL referee-in-chief and former president and chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

So Chicago – don’t miss the parade on Friday and good luck on your quest to find the Cup! You never know where you’ll find it either, the Cup has been in some pretty weird places. Share your photos with us on Twitter!